SOLDIERS fired on crowds of protesters in Rangoon yesterday in
an attempt to end the biggest people-power marches in Burma in 20
years.

At least three monks were killed, an official told Agence
France-Presse on condition of anonymity. One was killed when a gun
went off as he tried to wrest the weapon away from a soldier, while
two were beaten to death, the official said.

His account was confirmed by a second official, who said the
toll was based on official reports of incidents that took place
around the Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma's holiest site and a key
rallying point for the monks.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is to meet today to consider
action over the clashes, the French Foreign Affairs Minister,
Bernard Kouchner, said.

"Shots were fired by the security forces, first in the air, then
at the demonstrators," a French diplomat in the city, Emmanuel
Mouriez, told French radio RTL.

Aye Chan Naing, of the Oslo-based opposition group Democratic
Voice of Burma, told CNN last night that it had heard that at least
five monks had been killed.

The Asia Times Online website reported that three monks
were shot and killed in Ahlone, a suburb of Rangoon.

Earlier, soldiers had fired over the heads of crowds of
civilians and monks in central Rangoon, beat people with batons and
unleashed volleys of tear gas in an attempt to stop marching
columns of up to 10,000 monks.

Monks in red and saffron robes were sent scattering as soldiers
and riot police attacked them and their supporters with batons.

The cry of "You are fools! You are fools!" rang out on the
streets as people appalled at the crackdown on the Buddhist monks
vented their anger at the hated security forces.

"We can't bear it, we are very angry," said one young man
fleeing central Rangoon

Ordinary people dashed from offices, restaurants and shops in an
exodus that created havoc on the roads and left thousands stranded
in the streets or trying to find shelter wherever they could.

Many abandoned their cars in the gridlocked streets and ran for
their lives. "I feel very sorry for the monks, and also for the
people," said one young woman. "We are Buddhists. They shouldn't
act this way."

Undeterred despite the baton charge, the monks regrouped and
thousands marched into the city in defiance of the security forces.
They were greeted with deafening cheers from thousands of
bystanders as they approached the Sule Pagoda.

But in a second onslaught, the security forces fired more
warning shots and again unleashed tear gas to disperse the crowd,
sending people swarming to seek shelter indoors.

"They even insult our religion and our monks," a businessman in
his 50s said as he ran from the tear gas alongside monks who held
wet cloths to their faces.

At least two witnesses saw the bloodied body of a monk being
carried away after security forces stopped one of several
processions. It was not clear what his condition was.

Another 300 monks had headed towards the house of the detained
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in suburban Rangoon, tracked by
military trucks carrying about 40 soldiers, witnesses said.

That group of monks urged their supporters to stand back. "We
monks will do this, please don't join us," they told the crowd.
"Don't do anything violent. We will send loving kindness to them,"
they said of the military presence.

The pro-democracy politician Win Naing and a prominent actor, Za
Ga Na, who had joined the monks on Monday in urging the public to
support the protests, were arrested at their homes on Tuesday
night.